IT was a weekend that will live long in the memory.

We're always being told what glamorous jobs we have on the entertainments team of the Echo. But I don't always think so when I'm sat in a car park in the dark outside a theatre desperately trying to get a review across in time for the late night deadline for the next day's paper or doing an interview in yet another portakabin.

But last weekend, the job certainly lived up to its billing when Southampton and lucky old us were graced by the arrival of two seriously top events on the showbiz scale.

Friday night was spent chatting to theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh before settling down to be utterly dazzled by his brilliantly magical musical Mary Poppins, which is in Southampton until June 19.

It doesn't get more spectacular than this most spellbinding of musicals.

We were up bright and early again on Saturday for two days of great music and bonkers antics in the form of Common People 2016, the second outing of Southampton's superb summer shindig.

We were lucky enough to meet both headliners - the city's own Craig David and 80s Supergroup Duran Duran - ahead of their superb sets.

But there's also so much fun to be had just people watching backstage.

Rockney legends Chas & Dave nearly missed their slot after Dave was locked in their chauffeur driven limo. A laughing Chas stood nearby while Dave knocked desperately on the back window of the car and phoned their driver hoping for him to reappear.

Being an Ivor Novello Award winner obviously hasn't gone to the head of singer songwriter Jamie Lawson. Not only did he turn up with his own snacks - a triple pack of Jaffa Cakes on special offer - but he also picked up all his own rubbish and took it away with him again.

It's not rock n roll, but I like it.

The whole weekend was great for Southampton and great for us.

Now I need to lie in a dark room for a few days before the next big weekend, involving Rod Stewart and Isle of Wight Festival....

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here